Conviction rates and treatment of sex offense cases are just two of the heated topics between the contenders for McKean County’s top prosecutor.

Incumbent Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer is facing a primary election challenge from fellow Republican Phil Clabaugh, former assistant district attorney and current chief public defender.

Clabaugh has called into question Shaffer’s decisions on withdrawing charges in some cases, a move which she said is to deflect scrutiny “from our respective trial records as prosecutors.”

Shaffer said, “When I ran for district attorney three years ago, I vowed to improve the trial performance (of the) office. In 2014, nearly 6 out of every 10 defendants who went to trial were found not guilty of all charges or of the most serious charges. In 2015, it got even worse.

“Since taking office, I personally have established a trial conviction rate of 88 percent. Many of these were serious felony trials,” she said. “With great police work, I convicted Paul Morrisroe, at trial, for the homicide by vehicle of Dakota Heinaman. I convicted James Fowler, at trial, for one of the largest cocaine operations in county history, and secured the forfeiture of his home to the people.”

Shaffer continued, “I secured, at trial, the first methamphetamine lab conviction after an epidemic of meth cases beginning in 2018. I secured, at trial, the first drug delivery resulting in death conviction in the county’s history. My office has an overall conviction rate of 70 percent.”

Conversely, she said, Clabaugh was an assistant in the district attorney’s office under Ray Learn from 2010 to 2014. “In that time, he obtained an overall conviction rate, at trial, of 52.5 percent. During this time, he lost many serious felony charges.”

She added, “When my opponent was an assistant district attorney, if you wanted to know how a trial of his was going to turn out, you might as well have stood in front of the courtroom door and flipped a coin. But justice and the effective prosecution of crime must be more than a mere game of chance.

“I promised to improve the trial performance of the previous district attorney’s office, of which my opponent was an integral part. I have done so,” she said.

Clabaugh said he was unsure of his conviction rate in the prosecutor’s office between five and ten years, at the beginning of his career.

“What I am sure of is that during my tenure in the district attorney’s office, I voluntarily sought out the responsibility of prosecuting sex offenses with child victims, taking a large number of those cases to trial.

“While cases with children as victims are often based solely on testimony and can be difficult to prove without physical injury or evidence, I viewed my position as an assistant district attorney as a position of great responsibility,” he continued. “As the only voice available for these children to pursue justice through the court system, I proudly proceeded to trial on nearly a dozen such cases and would do so again.”

Clabaugh said, “I chose the route of justice over statistics every time. My opponent takes a different approach, by personally handling only one such case (sex assault with juvenile victim) during her 3-plus years in office.”

He added, “Many of these types of cases are dismissed without trial or never filed at all for fear not obtaining a conviction. This is not the way victims should be treated.”

Clabaugh alleged that Shaffer has fallen short in the promises she made when she ran for office, including a direct quote from her first campaign announcement: “An efficient and effective prosecutor’s office should have a trial conviction rate of 85 to 90 percent.”

He continued, “As quick as she is to tout her successes, my opponent fails to mention the six individual cases of burglary she has lost at trial, two home invasion aggravated assaults she has lost at trial, and an arson charge she has lost at trial.”

Of Clabaugh’s candidacy, Shaffer said, “The voters deserve proven performance, not a return to mediocrity.”

And of Shaffer’s candidacy, Clabaugh said, “She has fallen well short of the promises made to voters. This is why I have previously stated that running for office and running the office are an entirely different thing.”